OKLAHOMA CITY — Jordan Woolery dropped the bat and immediately raised her hands. Even though she watched the ball soaring toward the left-field fence, she knew it was gone.
Knew it was big, too.
Woolery’s three-run sixth-inning homer was the difference as sixth-seeded UCLA defeated 14th-seeded Alabama, 4-1, in its opener Thursday at the eight-team Women’s College World Series.
“I think I blacked out after I hit it,” Woolery said.
She laughed.
“I think my last at-bat, not letting the moment get to me,” she said of how she approached the situation. “Settling in in my third at-bat, where the first two, I was kind of excited to be here, excited to play.
“Settling in and just playing my game was a big portion of that.”
Until Woolery’s late-inning blast, she had struggled at the plate, grounding out in the second and striking out in the fourth.
Then again, hits throughout the game were hard to come by as the WCWS opener was largely a pitchers’ duel, UCLA’s Kaitlyn Terry and Taylor Tinsley battling Alabama’s Kayla Beaver.
UCLA (43-10) got on the board in the third inning.
After Janell Meono was hit by a pitch, Maya Brady laced a single into right field. Jadelyn Allchin followed with her own single to right, and Meono was sent home. She scored easily when Alabama right fielder Lauren Johnson bobbled the ball.
Alabama (38-19) got that run back in the fifth inning. After Terry gave up a lead-off single, she was replaced by Tinsley, who almost immediately found herself in trouble.
A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second, and a single followed by a walk loaded the bases with only one out.
Tinsley got a pop-up for an out but then allowed a sharp single to right field. One runner scored and a second was thrown out at home by right fielder Megan Grant to end the inning.
“Now with replay, it’s almost like you have to do it,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said of sending the runner.“Hey, the right fielder, clean. Great throw. The whole thing. I think you just have to try. … That was a longshot. Had a challenge, so what the heck.”
And Murphy did challenge the play, asking the umpires to determine if UCLA catcher Sharlize Palacios had blocked the plate and should be called for obstruction.
Umpires upheld the call on the field.
“I knew where we were playing defensively, of course you’ve got to send the runner,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “I’m kind of glad they did because Megan was in position. She’s got a good arm. The ball was hit right to her. I felt really good if we were able to play catch that she was going to be out at the plate.”
UCLA answered back in the sixth. With a runner on second and one out, Alabama opted to intentionally walk Palacios. Beaver followed with a strikeout, which brought Woolery to the plate.
The sophomore blasted a 1-and-1 pitch into the left field bleachers to send the Bruins to the winner’s bracket on their side of the draw.
They will play second-seeded Oklahoma on Saturday at noon PT at Devon Park. The three-time defending national champion Sooners followed the Bruins’ win with a 9-1 run-rule victory over 10th-seeded Duke.
“It comes down to critical moments,” Inouye-Perez said. “I always say the game has a sick sense of humor; Jordan had an opportunity early in the game, and it didn’t pay her back in that moment. … She stepped in and was ready for that next at-bat.”
